


rainbow wave

by SolidStateScouter



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Crackships are all I can write apparently, F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 17:55:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3420143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolidStateScouter/pseuds/SolidStateScouter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion is surprisingly friendly for a guard, Reisen thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	rainbow wave

Today is the fourth time you've visited the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the past month. Granted, it's not like any of those have been leisure visits - you've been selling Eientei medicine. The thing is, though, no one in the mansion is at all interested in buying the medicine, on account of not needing it. One of the perks of being a bunch of immortal youkai, you guess. And an apparently immortal human. 

So, you don't really know why you bother coming here anymore. As you float closer to the mansion, you spot Meiling floating up from her garden to intercept you. "Inaba? What are you doing here again?" She crosses her arms when she gets level with you, hair blowing in the slight wind. "I keep on telling you, we don't need your fancy Eientei medicine!" You're about to open your mouth to say something when she blinks and starts talking again. "Wait, are you really that desperate for sales? If you  _really_ need the money, I can get Sakuya to - "

"No! We're not desperate for sales, I just - "  _like visiting you_ " - forgot! Yeah, uh." She's not going to buy that, you realize, and you look around nervously. Gotta change the subject before she starts talking again. "Uh! Your garden's really nice..." Flicking your ears, you look down at the garden in question, a beautiful arrangement of colorful flowers. No wonder why Meiling's called the 'Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper'. "It's really pretty!"  _Like you,_ part of you thinks, and you feel yourself flush. Way to be subtle, Reisen.

Meiling grins and  _god she's cute who let this happen_. "Aw, thanks! I spend a lot of time on it! It's my pride and joy!" She chuckles bashfully and scratches the back of her neck. Another wave of heat spreads over your cheeks and you straighten your tie self-consciously. Might as well look your best, you guess. "Is that why you come here so often? Do you just want to see my garden all the time?" The dragon guard still sounds confused by the whole situation.

"Uh." You spend a moment thinking about whether or not she'd take a 'yes' as a compliment. "Uh, yeah! Eientei doesn't have any fancy gardens like this..." That's not exactly true, although Eientei's garden isn't anywhere near this colorful. Meiling smiles and nods slightly and you feel your blush intensifying again. "Uh, I should probably get going! If I spend any more time floating around here, I might get behind schedule." Unlikely, but you'd rather not embarrass yourself any further. Meiling's probably just humoring you at this point. "Bye!"

Meiling looks almost disappointed, and your heart leaps inside your chest. Dammit, Reisen, don't get your hopes up. "Okay! Don't be a stranger, though. See you around, Reisen!" She flies away from you before you have a chance to respond, back to patrolling the borders of the mansion. You just stare at her back, face flushed. Okay, so maybe you have a crush on the gatekeeper. Maybe. 

As you fly off into the distance, you slowly admit to yourself that you do, in fact, have a crush on Meiling. With a grumble, you look at the list of locations you have to visit. All this work should be a good way to distract yourself from these feelings, you think.

A couple hours later, you're done all your visits and they did not distract you from your feelings whatsoever.

Fantastic. Maybe Miss Yagokoro will know what to do.

* * *

"So, Miss Yagokoro, what should I do?" You can't keep the worry out of your voice, and you rock back and forth on your feet nervously. Romance has never really been a strength of yours. But Miss Yagokoro knows like, everything, she'll probably know exactly what you should do.

Eirin just looks at you blankly before turning her eyes back down to her desk. "I don't know, Udonge. Just ask her out on a date." Okay, so it turns out she doesn't know like, everything. You nod respectfully and step out of her office. Just asking her out on a date seems so... risky, though. What if she doesn't like you? That would be unpleasant. Anxiety stirs within your stomach and you flick your ears nervously.

"Reisen!" Oh god. Slowly, you turn around to face the source of the sound. Tewi bounces up to you excitedly, grinning widely. That only makes you more worried. "What's this I hear about you and the gatekeeper?" Shit.

Blushing furiously, you shake your head quickly. "Nothing! There's nothing. You didn't hear anything!" Despite your best attempts to sound threatening, your voice comes out panicked and flustered. Tewi snickers and crosses her arms.

"Meiling and Reisen, sitting in a tree...." she says in a singsong voice, giggling to herself like a child. 

After taking a second to calm yourself, you snap, "Tewi."

She's unperturbed, as usual. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" All the noise she's making is attracting a crowd of curious rabbits. 

"Tewi, come on..." You look around nervously, grateful that the noise hasn't attracted Kaguya out yet. She'd just end up teasing you too, and you'd have no choice but to just sit there and take it. Although she'd probably be better about it than fucking Tewi. "Please."

She looks you in the eyes, sticks her tongue out and takes a deep breath. Then, promptly starts singing again, even louder, as she runs down the halls. With a groan, you walk down the other hall, towards your room. You think you're just going to go to sleep. That really sounds more appealing than dealing with Tewi or any of her rabbits right now. Maybe you'll think of a plan.

* * *

"She came again?" Sakuya looks up at you from the stove. "Didn't you tell her we don't need any medicine?" 

You nod and look through the cupboards for ingredients. "Yeah. She said she came to look at the garden, cause apparently Eientei doesn't have fancy gardens like mine. I mean, ours." It's hard to keep the pride out of your voice.

Sakuya furrows her eyebrows and takes the ingredients you hand to her. "That's a lie. I've been to Eientei. They have gardens. They're not as nice as yours, maybe, but they're still nice. The rabbits tend to them, I guess." 

"Then why do you think she's visiting?"

The maid just looks at you out of the corner of her eye and smirks to herself. "I think she likes you." You can't stop yourself from snorting with amusement.

"Me? Yeah, right. She's way more interested in the garden. She kept on talking about it and complimenting me on it and - oh." You redden slightly, and Sakuya chuckles. "Okay, maybe she likes me."

"We have a winner," Sakuya mutters sarcastically, and you scowl at her, arms crossed.

"Oh, shut up."

"Do you like her?" The question comes out of nowhere five minutes later, while you're dicing vegetables.

"Uh, what?" Sakuya looks over at you.

"Do you like her."

"...Uh. Yeah, a little." You flush and scratch at the back of your neck awkwardly. "Don't tell Miss Remilia, alright?"

"Don't tell me what?" Suddenly, Remilia is standing in between the two of you, looking at you curiously. "Meiling, are you keeping secrets?" Remilia sounds overly pleased by this turn of events, and you try to backpedal rapidly.

"Uh, no, Miss Remilia, I just - " Remilia snickers.

Sakuya interrupts you quickly. "She has a crush on Reisen. The moon rabbit." You groan and slump over, nodding glumly. Remilia doesn't look that surprised, but pats you on the back anyways.

"Oh, I know! I was listening the entire time." Goddammit. "She's pretty cute! Hey, I have an idea, Meiling!" Dread spreads through your entire body, but you manage to nod eagerly nonetheless. "Ask her on a date! We can have it here! I can get Sakuya to cook a bunch of great food for the two of you! It'll be the best first date _ever._ " You look at her blankly, mind racing. She... has a good point.  _  
_

"Uh, okay." That actually does sound good. It'd be romantic and... would give her a good first impression. You nod slowly. "Okay. I'll ask her out on a date next time I see her, and..." 

Remilia finishes your sentence for you with a grin. "If she says yes - and she probably will - we'll make it the best first date ever. You can count on it, Meiling!" 

You sure hope so.

* * *

Next time you see her turns out to be the next day, at around noon. She's floating in the distance awkwardly. This is... a lot earlier than you expected to see her. Frantically, you move towards a patch of flowers and pick some of them, fashioning them into a makeshift bouquet. If you had known she was coming today, you would have done this earlier. Thankfully, she hasn't seen you yet, apparently, so you soar off to meet her, hiding the flowers behind your back. "Uh, hey, Reisen!"

She jerks her head towards you quickly, startled. "Oh. Hi, Meiling..." Her sentence trails off awkwardly and she glances at your arms before looking up to your face. "Uh! Can I... ask you something?"

You nod quickly, fidgeting with the bouquet. "Uh, sure. Shoot." 

"Do you - do you wanna go on a date with me?" Reisen starts off slowly, and then blurts the rest out quickly. So quickly you're not sure if you heard her right, at first. A blush spreads across your face and you find yourself smiling a bit. Reisen just looks around nervously, tugging at her tie.

"Uh, wow. Sure! Yes!" The words spill from your mouth in a storm of enthusiasm. You take the bouquet out from behind you and present it to her, bouncing excitedly. "Wow. I was gonna ask you on a date first but! You beat me to the punch, huh?"

Reisen takes the bouquet slowly, getting redder and redder by the second. "Really? That's." She laughs nervously and straightens her tie. "Thank you. Uh, where do you want to... have this date? And when?" She looks up at you from the bouquet, still sounding flustered. 

"Um. We can have it here! Does tomorrow night sound good?" This was all discussed with Remilia last night. You just didn't think you'd have to say it so soon.

Reisen nods slowly, looking back down at the flowers. "Yeah, that sounds good. Uh. See you then..." Before you have a chance to respond, she flies away quickly, hugging the flowers to her chest. 

God. You're gay.

But... you're gay and you have a date. A grin finds its way onto your features. 

* * *

Okay, so that went way better than expected.

You have a date. And a bouquet of brilliantly colored flowers.

When you touch down outside of Eientei, you're immediately accosted by Tewi once again. "Oh, look at that! You got flowers! Does that mean you really did get a date?" You nod and walk past her. She follows behind you, grinning. "Really? That's great! Where are you two lovebirds heading off to for your date?" 

"The mansion." Now that you actually think about it, that sounds like it could be pretty embarrassing. What if you have to introduce yourself to all of the people there? You've met them before, yeah, but... It's still a rather nerve-wracking prospect. "Tomorrow night." Tewi claps her hands together.

"Aw, how exciting! Eirin! Did you hear that? Our little Inaba is growing up!" Miss Yagokoro looks up at the two of you. "She got her date with the gatekeeper! Now they're really gonna be kissing in a tree!"

"Congratulations, Udonge." She smiles at you before going into her office. Evidently she has her hands full. 

"Thank you." 

Tewi continues to follow you to your room. "Reisen, come on. You better tell me all the juicy details."

"I'm not going to tell you anything."

"You're no fun."

* * *

 

The next day, you're hovering outside of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and nervously adjusting your tie. You're dressed how you usually are - jacket, dress shirt, tie and skirt. Nothing overly fancy by your standards, but at least you look good. Then again, you pretty much always look good. After a brief moment of hesitation - you didn't see Meiling around the garden at all when you got here - you raise your fist and knock on the door.

The door swings open almost immediately afterwards and you're greeted by Sakuya Izayoi. "Hello, Reisen. Come in." Her voice is formal, and she steps aside to let you in. You step inside slowly, looking around the massive main hall of the mansion. This... is a lot bigger on the inside than the outside. You're not quite sure how that's even possible, but whatever. "This way, please." Sakuya makes her way down one of the many halls and you follow her slowly, shooting anxious glances around every corner.

Eventually, after what feels like an eternity of walking through a mess of halls, you're led into a large dining room. Instead of a large, long table, there's a small table with two chairs. And in one of them, Meiling sits, looking up when the two of you enter. A grin spreads across her features. "Hey! Hi!" She waves at you and Sakuya exits the room, leaving you alone with her.

"Uh, hi, Meiling." You sit down on the chair across from her and she beams at you. She's wearing a pretty normal outfit for her, like you, but she still looks radiant in it. Like a rainbow. How appropriate, you guess. "The mansion's... very big, huh?"

Meiling nods. "Sakuya did it! She can manipulate time and space and everything, so it looks way smaller on the outside than it actually is!" You guess the time manipulation would explain how she got to the door almost immediately. "Uh. Miss Remilia got me to have this big dinner for this so... I hope this is a good first date!" Meiling chuckles nervously and tugs at one of her braids.

You smile at her, trying to calm yourself down. "I'm sure it will be." Meiling nods excitedly.

* * *

The dinner is nice.

Sakuya apparently manipulated time so she could cook a whole bunch of different meals. You even got a menu and everything. There's vegetarian options, thankfully. You get a nice salad. Meiling eats way more than you do, mostly a bunch of various meats. The two of you talk. Meiling talks about the Scarlet Weather incident, which you had the luck not to be around for. You tell her about the incident with the moon, although you guess she already heard that one, considering Remilia and Sakuya had been involved.

The maid never actually interrupts anything. Time just stops and resumes with your food in front of you. That's pretty considerate of her.

When you're done, Meiling stands up. "Uh. Was that. Good?" She sounds more anxious than you've ever heard from her, which is a bit reassuring.

You nod. "It was. Best date I've ever had." Meiling beams at you and giggles. You just look away and flush.

"Do you want me to walk you to the border..?"

"Uh. Sure."

* * *

The walk to the border is slow, long, and quiet. The two of you remain quiet.

Slowly, Meiling takes your hand into hers and you feel your face heating up in the cold night once more.


End file.
